- 48. Defend, Deliver, Preserve
Isaiah 31:5 As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.
The Lord promises to defend the Church (and each individual Christian), and He will deliver the Church, and He promises to preserve it. The Holy Spirit “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.”
Jerusalem is the invisible Church on earth, the whole body of believers in Jesus Christ of the New Testament. We don’t see this activity going on, but that doesn’t mean it is not there. We have this promise: the Lord is defending the church against all Enemies within and without. The Enemy is constantly and subtly deceiving believers with false ideas, false teaching, and false doctrine, attempting to keep God’s people away from the saving truth of the Gospel of life. In the face of deceitful teachings the Spirit is defending us with the pure Word of the Gospel in order to keep us in the one true faith.
The Lord is always delivering us from the threats and attacks of the Enemies of the soul. Sometimes we see and feel the dangers and threats; sometimes we don’t. Either way, He is there to deliver. The Lord hears our prayer to “deliver us from evil.” Bad things happen to the individual believer and to the body of Christ, but He delivers from the evil of them. He promises to deliver and keep us in the faith until the end. No matter what we endure the Lord says we will endure it and come out on the other side of the “evil” with our faith intact. We are always being delivered and He is building our lives on the Solid Rock. We have a Deliverer; we have nothing to fear.
The Lord promises to pass over our Church to keep, protect, and preserve our life and connection with The Life. No matter where we are or where we go or what we are going through, He is always near to pass over and preserve. The Destroyer is intent, but he cannot enter the place where the blood of the Lamb is sprinkled. The blood of the innocent Lamb is sprinkled over our hearts so that the Evil cannot come, Enjoy your life under the protection and preserving of the God who died and rose for you.